Ordered my first custom rod ever today!!!

[DoubleA_FL]

Just a little backround. I live in central florida, i fish on both coasts, in the keys, carribean, and bahamas. i just got into jigging not too long ago and once exposed to jigging i was then exposed to popping (can thank GMan for that one)

So i own two Trevala rod setups for jigging. I fish mainly in the gulf so those two are fine for that. One area i do not own ANY rods is popping. So today i broke down and ordered a handmade/custom rod from Handler Custom Rods - which is my local outfit. He is located in Cocoa Beach.

Its a 9' popping rod - the blank number was a 1098 from seeker i think.... - setup for light jigs and big surface poppers. i ordered it today so i wont have pictures for a long time. But im too excited to not write about it.

ALSO should be jigging up a storm this saturday - hopefully lots of pictures to follow on that too!

OH! and planning on a saragosa 18000 for the reel. IM SO EXCITED!

Check out Handler Custom Rods:

[Sea Draggin]

Thats good. Always best to go local when you can. 9' long will be a beast.

[FLATLINER]

DoubleA, Congratulations! You will certainly be happy with the product that you get. Going custom is a great way to make your fishing experiences on the water so much more enjoyable!

Kevin

[Sea Draggin]

I just saw a thing on TV this morning about a guy that developed some testing equipment called PURE. He can do golf club shafts and fishing rods.

Its some scientific engineering stuff to determine the shafts structural spine and harmonic spine. It was awesome. They said it costs between $12-60 per shaft to do.

Basically you would have a blank tested before the build. I wouldn't hesitate to spend the extra on a custom.

[FLATLINER]

I just saw a thing on TV this morning about a guy that developed some testing equipment called PURE. He can do golf club shafts and fishing rods.

Its some scientific engineering stuff to determine the shafts structural spine and harmonic spine. It was awesome. They said it costs between $12-60 per shaft to do.

Basically you would have a blank tested before the build. I wouldn't hesitate to spend the extra on a custom.

Yeah, the spining of a blank is an important step in the proper manufacturing of a rod. What is being done today on mass manufactured rods is that they are no longer building on the spine, but rather on the "straight". When blanks were manufactured in USA, they were straight. When they went to China, the tolerances were a bit outa whack. When that happened, companies found that their scrap blanks (those that were not straight) was too great. So, they went from spining the rods to building them on the straightest axis. Not good.
As a custom rod builder, each and every rod that I build is built on the spine. I have equipment that finds that spine for me. Some custom builders are starting to build on the straight, but I am old school and its my belief that when you are spending the money for a custom, you want it done right. There is a huge debate that never ceases about "straight" vs "spine" in our industry and there are 1000 different opinions on the matter. I learned from the best in the outer banks and I go with what I know.
What happens in the manufacturing of the blank is sheets of graphite or whatever material is in the composition of the blank is rolled onto the mandrel. So, you have a starting point and a stopping point. At those 2 spots, there is one layer more of material. That 1 layer is what makes the rod want to bend in a given direction. If anyone has ever had a rod that wants to twist while fighting a fish, then you had a rod that was not spined before building.
Heck, I am doing a rod now that just last night, I spent 2 hours getting the fore and rear grips and reelseat put on, only to look down the blank and see that it was crooked by about an inch. So, to some builders or certainly a manufacturer, that would have been fine but I took the darn thing apart (sticky glue all over the place) and started over (this time checking the blank BEFORE I went to all that trouble!)...
I will have to remember charging 12-60 for spining the rod!!!

Somehow, I don't think I will get any takers since I sm already doing it for free.

In golf (my other hobby that I do way too much), PURE-ing a shaft will change the trajectory of the ball when the club makes contact with the ball. To the pro's there is a difference in performance. To the hacker, there is little or no change in ball flight.

KK

[Sea Draggin]

Somehow, I don't think I will get any takers since I sm already doing it for free.

To me what these guys are doing is whole different level than what typical rod builders are doing. But thats my opinion. If you had to invest in the equipment they had, you would be charging.

[DoubleA_FL]

Adrian over at Handler shares the opinion of Flatliner - he spines EVERY rod he makes because he too is old school and a stickler for quality.

I have already changed my rod order hahahaha, last night after i got done telling you guys about my rod i looked up the poppers that i wanted to run and it turns out they are WAY heavier than i thought. So i called Handler this morning and we switched to a glass parabolic blank that can handle those popper weights.

I CANT WAIT TO GET OUT THERE AND START POPPIN!!!